Adding Tone Controls?

Overall, I'm in line with your thinking that one should always design a system around best of recordings. And once you are there, not to have them later compromised by tweaking to accommodate those less than stellar ones--because then, we will be like chasing the dog's tail.

I feel that you are on the right track, as well your thinking of the best solution into addressing the problem (wherein it lies within the source). Just use a 'corrective device' that's able to jump in and do the job well when needed, and totally OUT of it (signal path) otherwise. Good luck!

Bama,

This is what happens when you place music before equipment. Shame on you!

BTW, I can deeply relate. I rank Todd Rundgren as my favorite songwriter of the r'n'r era and his records are usually borderline unlistenable. I'd agree that digital EQ is the best solution for your problem, particularly because it appears that you use all digital sources. Design choices of ARC, CJ, etc. nothwithstanding, the impact of an additional device in the digital signal path is not IME likely to create any meaningful problem. OTOH, digital EQ can go a long way toward making bad sound acceptable.

Or you could use my own solution: listen to Todd in the car. Or on Sonos. Just not (often) on the good system.

Marty

"This is what happens when you place music before equipment."

No music without equipment unfortunately.

You might still need digital processing to get what you want out of certain recordings, but best to have the right foundation first. That can go a long way towards enabling more musical enjoyment more easily over the long term, as opposed to spending time tweaking for every less than optimal recording encountered.

Digital equalization might help if treble level is the issue, but it is not clear to me from what has been stated so far that is the issue. Certainly, if the treble is irritating, making for less of it can only probably help, but there could be other reasons why treble is not good. Distortion would be the most likely. BEst to address that if the case. Almarg presented one scenario that might lead to distortion in the treble. Another might be the pairing of the tube pre-amp with the Pass amp. I am not sure the Pass amp is necessarily designed to work best with a tube preamp with <30K input impedance? That could be creating distortion as well that might be reduced with a better pre/amp impedance match perhaps. Nothing against the CJ or Pass gear certainly, just not sure that the pairing is optimal from a distortion perspective. Maybe others can chirp in on that. If both pre-amp/amp impedance matching and Almargs issue identified with the amp/wire/speaker combo were both in play, that could be a double whammy that accounts for what you are hearing.

I have heard similar MLs run off a SS Krell integrated (amp/preamp impedance matching should not be an issue with an integrated amp) and Krell digital source. There was no irritating treble! Quite the opposite! So I am confident that what you are hearing need not be the case with teh right foundation of equipment in place. If it were me I would want to hear your gear with either a better match between tube pre-amp and amp, or with good all SS amplification in place. Then see what recordings sound good or bad and go from there.

Bama, also I am curious how old you are? Younger people in their teens and 20's tend to hear higher frequencies better and are more affected by "bad treble" than their elders, so it is a useful thing to know.

Bama, FWIW, you can lower the volume of distortion in the upper-mids and highs, but you still get distortion only on a slightly reduced level. Maybe not so good.

But, how do you know without trying first. Perhaps an equalizer or tone control, digital or analog, will solve the problem. Maybe not. It is the cheapest possible solution though. And for me at least, the choice would be the simplist one to use, i.e. it has the flattest learning curve and very simple to use. After all, the recordings are poor in the first place, what would be lost?

I have not challenged the sound quality of the equipment or the set up being used. (You didn't ask and it is good stuff.) But, FWIW, I think the synergy itself may produce a set up with overly emphasized upper mids/highs which passes amoungst many audiophiles as evidence of what the sound should be, but rarely that it is too bright, because it is so smooth when playing high quality recordings you accept the HF emphasis as being correct or consonant with live music.

Obviously when the OP then plays a lower quality recording the poor highs etc stand out like a sore thumb. This is a problem I think created by the industry professionals in making and marketing stuff. Everyone is demanding high quality resolution and the professional's response is often little more than elevating the sound of the high(er) frequencies either by using frequency responses or rise/fall times, i.e. speed, changing the natural resolution of the sound.

A couple of things about your system which caused me to bring this up. The speaker set up looks good but you have a lot of glass and hard wall surfaces behind your speakers which can overemphasize backwave sound and cause distortions.

I would put reflective/absorbant materiels on those walls/glass. Also you can change the direction of the back wave by toing in the speakers so that you are listening on axis. Then the back wave is bouncing off the backwall (or in a narrow room, the side wall) at an angle which will make its arrival at the listening position much more distinct from the first signal (I did that very successfully with Quad 63's).

I would also try some different cable, something not known (in a general sense) for its 'wonderful' delivery of the high frequencies. I used Nordost cables for a time - loved the 'clarity' until found that it really only over emphasized the extant highs of my system.

If you did those things, your first impression might be that you have just dulled down the overall sound of your system, and you just well might have done so, but consider whether or not the new 'sound' is dulled down or actually more realistic, i.e. sounds like real live music, not just the sound of high end audio.

FWIW I went through high quality analog tone controls and equalizers several times many years ago for just the problem you are trying to solve. I haven't used them in years. Their demise started with the conclusion that the sound I was experiencing was more because of my need to have 'face', by buying and implementing really high end stuff, inadequately I think, than it was to produce a sound that was consonant with what good sounding music could sound like in my home. I recall then getting a lot of admiration (of equipment) and a concurrent inability to produce what I considered high quality sound. (Now I get excellent sound and little appreciation. :-)

I don't know if this is of any value to you at all, but what the hell....and its free! :-)

Bad recordings should sound, well.. bad, played through an honest system. If its tailored to sound acceptable or good reproducing them, then a compromise or two must have been made somewhere to compensate this system's fidelity ie. system is suppress to lying.

To me, the OP has clearly stated right from the get go (then repeatedly) that his main concern is ONLY that of the lesser (bad) recordings, and NOT of the system's set-up nor its general performance (which he seems to be already very happy and contend with!).

Thus, I assume he knows fully well the capability of this system, and had identified the symptom/s and only looking for advice as to what medication best to remedy it.

Let's not undermine the OP's experiences and also of his hearing acuity. Just take it at that and shoot simple suggestions as to what we think best whether it be aspirin, paracetamol or..??--to get that annoying pain off his head as requested, instead of re-analyzing over his illness, and giving him more of it. :P